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snsmissionaries · 5 years

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6/30/19 -- Sister Nicole Ritman, Spain, Madrid Mission

Cumpleaños: ONE. ENTIRE. YEAR. 🇺🇸➡ 🇪🇸

Note from Mom: Nicole had PD-day on Wednesday this week because all of the missionaries in her zone attended the temple together. A "chapa" is a missionary tag. And apparently, raw eggs in Spain are not in danger of salmonella poisoning 🤔

Subject Line: One year ago EXACTLY today, a van picked up a bunch of jet-lagged, chapa-less missionaries from the Madrid Airport and rolled into the Madrid Temple Square. And today I went to the temple and am writing this letter right next to it! I'm in the same place exactly a year later. Everything and nothing has changed, you know what I'm sayin'?

¡Hola a Todos!

This week we had another really good Sunday! We had a lot of our amigos show up to church! One came for the first time and some members went all the way out of their way to drive him in their car. The other was a guy who was playing fútbol in a field and we were sitting on a bench waiting for someone to meet with us and he just came up and started taking to us and he literally came to church the next day with his son! And his son loved Primary so much and then we met with him the next day and he's literally the chillest guy ever. We are really excited to see where this goes! (cough cough BAPTISM cough cough).

Our amigo with fecha (baptismal date) likes to see us all the time and it's so fun. He really is learning more and more everyday! He is always playing tricks on us and his new one is to try to sneak up behind us when we're walking and steal my waterbottle. He isn't as good at recognizing jokes as he is doing them so we totally convinced him the Elders live in this hut in a park we walk by on the way to church. 😂

Also I just have to give a shout out to the district. Something kinda unfortunate happened to me (not worth mentioning what it was) but they were SO CONCERNED and kept checking up to see how I was and reading me uplifting quotes and ordering H Pendleton to give me hugs--since they couldn't--and wash my feet and say "My queen". They're the best jaja

Also today we finally drank the raw eggs from the finding day! My first one I automatically spit out without even thinking-like a reflex. The second one Elder Young (who downed 25 in a row to beat the last record) told me to break the yolk and it'd be easier. It was and I was able to drink it with everyone at once. It was HORRIBLE because Spain doesn't refrigerate eggs and for some reason it being warm and the familiar eggy yet different taste left me gagging a few times after I swallowed. I've done it once so I checked it off my bucket list but I'll never do it again. 🥚

Really I can't think of what else happened this week that was relevant even though it was a longer one than normal.

Os Quiero,

Hermana Ritman

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snsmissionaries · 5 years

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6/24/19 -- Elder Dalton Hall, Ecuador Mission

Baptisms!!

This week we didnt travel, so we had all week to work in the sector and prepare everything for Yuri and Olgas baptism. We had a great baptismal service for them. Yuri and Olga both bore their testimonies and got emotional. They shared about how they have felt the spirit change their personality and lives. It has been a blessing to be part of their conversion. They are great. They were confirmed Sunday in ward conference.

Elder Zollinger and i have been walking a lot because a lot of the appoinments we had fell through because a lot of them were busy doing other things or they werent home, however we still found some new people to teach this week. We are going to be preparing Yuris little brother for baptism along with Yuris sister in law, Cristina. Xavier Franco is having a hard time with 2 of his sons that are 19 and 23. Xavier wants to be baptized the 20th of July, but he is having a hard time progressing because his 19 year old son is a member but he doesnt act right. He gets involved in other things that he shouldnt. He is a really really good father but he is having some troubles at work and with his other son that is in drug rehab. We are praying and reading in the book of mormon a lot with him and he has been able to find some answers to his questions. Please pray for him and his family! We are talking with Darley and his wife Maria Jose to help them get prepared to be baptized the 27th of July. They are really good people but they are always so busy with so many things going on in their lives right now. We are also helping Nina for the 27th. We have had some success and seen some miracles this week. Finally, we received a refurral from a couple members and her name is Ana Alvarez and she is really sweet and she accepted a baptismal date for the 27th of July as well. This people are all awesome and we love and work with them a lot! We are doing all week can to do our best as missionaries here.

I am very grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. I am grateful for the infinite atoning sacrifice of the Savior Jesus Christ. I feel his love and power when I repent and when I renew my baptisml covenant with him every week. I really can testify as a personal representative of the Savior that He lives and loves us and that this is His church, the only way that we can obtain a remission of our sins and eternal life. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Elder Hall

the "gordito" is Elkin, Yuris little brother who is 13, and the man on the right is Jose, Olgas husband

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snsmissionaries · 5 years

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6/13/19 -- Elder Braden Cowden, Argentina, Cordoba Mission

Elder Cowden - week 53

“The strong man who has known power all his life, may lose respect for that power…….but a weak man, knows the value of strength"

Hola a todos! Esta vez sera muy corto tal vez, pero muy bueno a la vez :)

So this week has just gone by so fast! I literally have seen so many miracles and amazing things take place. Shall we begin?

We started off the week with district meeting where we practiced 5 HOURS singing the himno "Se que vive mi Señor" that we will be singing tomorrow when Elder Clayton comes and visits our misión! It was really worth it though! We then have had many great experiences with the Children of God we are teaching. (hashtag Norma)

On Saturday, We also had our last interviews with President Correa until he leaves with Hermana Correa. I was able to just talk to him and he gave such great advice and we joked around and it was a special sacred moment that i wont ever forget :) I will miss them so much!

Oh yeah by the way, during the interviews...... we practiced for another 4 hours!!!!

Then last night, we had another practice for 4 hours where President turned into Simon Cowell and was taking us each in with our parts and practicing. Like the primary song says (some words changed) "and the missionariees sang as they practiced, and practiced, and practiced, aaaaannnnnddddd ppprrraaaccctttiiicccceeedddd...........) All i'm saying is two things: I better come out a professional singer with this and two, the Choir at temple square has got NOTHING on us!!

I was able to have small chat with Hermana Correa and President Correa and express to them my love and appreciation for them.

Tomorrow we have a Special Mission Conference with Elder Clayton. It'll be so awesome i cant wait!!!!

Anyways thats really it, I love you all and transfers are next week but im pretty sure ill stay here and finish my sons training with him!

Love you all

Elder Cowden

Oh yeah by the way, We have more choir practice tonight jaja=

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snsmissionaries · 5 years

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7/1/19 -- Elder Braden Cowden, Argentina, Cordoba Mission

Elder Cowden - week 55

“Oh, he’s flat lining. Call it. Time?”

So although my subject line has to be a movie quote, The following quotes sum it up even better: "The Calzones... Betrayed me?" "I was dying earlier today. And then I died. Now Im dead."

So to just clarify the subject line - I am a lot better today, but i did get food poisoning. We recieved a vianda from a member, which just basically means take out from the members, and ate in the pension. Before i knew it, i felt like Ben (from Parks and Rec) laying on the floor just feeling like i wanted to die. Jaja.

To summarize my week:

-We had a wonderful lesson with the amazing Norma! She is really progressing and changing her life for the better. The Gospel of Jesus Christ really is joy!

-Last Sunday with the power outage My Compañero y Yo had to give our testimonies in Sacrament Meeting with no electricity! Talk about a preacher yelling to his congregation all the way to the back of the cultural hall!

-Also we had to pull a hercules and hold upon a garage door while the lady pulled her car out! See, even on Sundays you can get a work out in ;) -We had a delicious Asado with La Familia Albornos and we watched the Restaration movie!

-These past couple days as weve been running in the morning we have had a companion running next two us protecting us.... You really are a CHAMPION!!!! :) -We have found lots of people who want to change their life around for the better!

-I have been reading a LOT in the Book "Jesus the Christ", or "Jesus el Cristo" and it is LITERALLY my favorite book! Please read it! It will truly grow your understanding and grattitude of the life our Lord and Savior and His life. HE IS THE SON OF GOD AND HE LIVES!!!

I love you all, Tegan una buenisima Semana!!!!

Elder Cowden

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snsmissionaries · 5 years

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4/24/19 -- Sister Nicole Ritman, Spain, Madrid Mission

😎 The Boyz R Back 😎

Subject Line: After not having any for my first transfer, they out two new Elders back in Villalba! The ward is so excited their food calendar is full and ours isn't at all 😭 But it's understandable. But it's been fun to have a team back in Villalba we've already had a few meetings and given them some of our friends.

¡Hola a Todos!

Well handing off some of our friends to the Elders turned to be more difficult than plannned. The first one I thought would be perfect because he always refused to meet in public or in the church with another woman. Those are our safety rules, so we never got to meet with him and I thought it'd be perfect to give him back to the Elders because they originally taught him.

Wrong decision: He. Flipped. Out. He started furiously texting me (at this point my old comp had left and my new one wasn't here left) so much I couldn't even reply and then started calling me from two different numbers literally and calling me sexist and racist and not a true Christian for not meeting with him any more (I've never even met the guy before!) I told him I'd talk to the Elders and get back to him and he commanded me not to. But I did anyways and so they texted him and he blocked them. Then they called him (Elder Kuhlman recorded the call for evidence) and he went off about how he'd come to church to go up to the pulpit and denounce me and call me out for the evil girl I am. At this point, I had to go to the meeting for trainers and so I told him I had to go and wouldn't reply but he said "You're such a liar- it's lunch time!" lol. What a confidence booster before I met my trainee. (Spoiler: He didn't end up coming to church. Phew.)

Anyways we left Villalba on Monday night and I said goodbye to H Brumble super early in the morning and she left to the islands. I spent all Tuesday as companions with H Rico who is in San Sebastián de los Reyes (where the mission home and office are) and we literally saw so many miracles in just one and a half days as companions. The first day we went to Atocha (main train station of Madrid) and we helped two Hermanas get train tickets, one Elder from the Barcelona mission use our phone and so he got on the right train, and got the Villalba Elders their keys and phone.

Then we went back to Sanse and went contacting and didn't even get rejected once. Not even once! That is the promised land I'm telling ya. We found two new people for them to teach. We also had a lesson that went super well for not having taught together before.

Anways back to leaving the crazy guy situation to go to my trainer meeting, I got my hija! Her name is H Pendleton and there's another H Pendleton in her group from AZ but she's the one from Spanish Fork, Utah.

We got back late Wed night and on Thursday she had her first cita. It was with a nice, receptive abuelo so I thought it'd go well. We even had a member to accompany us. But the cita was totally crazy and so opposite than the first time. Firstly, he was dying and claimed he hadn't eaten in two days so he had us make him a smoothie and cleaned his kitchen. He had to take a break every 10 seconds to breathe deeply and groan in pain. We thought he might pass out or something. As we were cooking he turned on the radio super loud and it started cussing fuerte in English but luckily he randomly turned it off before I could say something. We went to teach him and then he misunderstood something from the Libro de Mormón and he got into a basically yelling fight with the member and we were just like "uhhhh" but then somehow through the yelling she resolved his doubt and he turned nice again. He showed us his pride and joy-his flower garden and gave us a "Best friend" card so idk lol. What an interesting first cita for mija.

The rest of the week was a little fatal because the whole week was holiday bus schedule for Semana Santa and the buses hardly come. It was rainy and kinda rough at first for me to try to get reorganized and everything but things are going better now.

The best thing that happened was on Sunday we met with the Elders and Bishop and Bishop wrote notes about everyone in the ward. SO HELPFUL I feel like I actually know what's going on better now.

A high of the week would definitely be when we taught a member English and we helped her translate one of her favorite songs into Spanish and just seeing her fall in love with her favorite song again because now she knows the gorgeous lyrics was so rewarding. The more I learn Spanish, the more I learn Spanish and English!

I'm really optimistic for training. My hija is really chill and relaxed and dealing with her jet lag really well (I actually napped even longer than her today lol) and she speaks Spanish super super well already. We're excited about working with the ward mission Plan to basically invite the entire world to the new capilla. It's in a different town than where our capilla now is so that's inconvenient but hey sacrifice brings blessings!

Os quiero,

Hermana Ritman

Contact Information

email: [email protected]

Sister Nicole Ritman

Madrid Spain Mission

Avenida de Tenerife, 11

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid, Espana

Villalba Week 7:https://photos.app.goo.gl/movYqZiU8x8v1M1DA

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snsmissionaries · 5 years

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4/23/19 -- Elder Braden Cowden, Argentina, Cordoba Mission

Week 43

This drink, I like it………ANOTHER!!!!!

This has been the absolute best week of my mission. So many amazing and wonderful things have happened I cant start to explain it! I will put everything in bullet points so its easier and then itll be easier for me to remember them later on jaja :)

-Tuesday after PDay ended, I had in the church building one of the most best, but worst, lessons I have been in with Lorenzo where I had to rely on my testimony to help him understand what we all know to be true. Honestly, I have a new perspective of the story in the last chapter of John where Jesus asks Peter three times if he really loves Him. I got to experience a portion of that story and it was one of the most intense lessons where the Spirit was so strong.

-Wednesday we had District Meeting where my desire to be the Disciple that Jesus Christ needs me to be changed and deepened. It was a video on Youtube that I invite you to watch, even though its in Spanish jaja ;) We then ate empanadas in the Church as a Zone it was fun. Then upon returning to our area, we went to visit a family where we have talked to the mother and the children, but not at the same time, and it was always outside. As we walked up, we could see they were having company but that didnt stop me jaja. I "clapped" and luckily the visitor was just leaving and we were able to find the entire family, even the father, there at the house. To quickly sum it up, the Spirit was felt, testimonies and beliefs were strengthened, tears were shed, hugs were given, pictures were taken, and seeds to come unto Christ more were planted.

-Thursday my companion had tramites which are basically the legal work that missionaries have to do in order to be in Argentina. So were there from 3 oclock in the afternoon until 7. So I had the opportunity to walk around Downtown Cordoba, talk to some people, Sight see, and have fun with some other elders while our companions were suffering ;)

-Friday we had intercambios (exchanges) with the Zone Leaders and I really enjoyed it. I was with elder Pico (Ask me what that means another day) and we had such a great time. We even had the opportunity to drink hot chocolate and oh how i missed it!! I also got to reunite with a couple that I knew from my first day here in Argentina when i went to the temple! The mother is the Argentine Jill Bryce. If i ever get to see her again, i will take a picture with the family :)

-Saturday was an entire day of visiting every investigator and inviting them to church. We were able to get three promises!

-Sunday was great as always. Although nobody showed up to church, I learned the importance of caring about every lamb. And to leave the 99 and go and find the 1 that is missing, because it matters. Oh how it has importance!!! I also ate really delicious Locros for Lunch!

-Monday was also a pretty normal day helping peoplpe come unto Christ and setting a date with the mother of the family we taught on Wednesday to do her family history work today! She has a desire to do find her family and her real parents as she knows nothing as of right now and it was literally the first thing she asked us if we could help her with! DING!!! Tonight we are going to talk about the importance of temples and why we have them and how we can do ordaninces for our ancestors on the other side of the veil. We also got to teach Sara.... dear Sara... and also her older sister and her friend last night. We were accompanied by Diego (Diper) who is preparing to serve a mission. Sara has had interest in the church and has already came to church. I have had a very tough lesson that i have learned about the people that God puts in our way who are prepared to recieve the truth. And when we dont do it, Oh how we need tio repent! So i was determined to do everything i can to help Sara come unto Christ and i was not going to lose her. SOOOO On Sunday as we were heading to lunch from the chuuch in the bus and were with some members.... Sara happened to just walk on and sit down on the other side of the bus in front of some members. They started talking and I could see that there was a seat open next to her. So, Being the sly guy I am, I graciously got up out of my seat, offered it to a lady nearby, and was standing in the bus. Just after 30 seconds, one of the hermanos told me, "Elder Sit Down." (Yes, he spoke english, although it was a bit rough:) So I sat down next to Sara and started up a conversation. I then set an appointment for Monday night and that was that! But anyways, we went to Saras house and They invited us in and to tell you only a little of a sacred experience, every single one of us at one point were crying. It was amazing!

-Tuesday (Today) We had the opportunity to go to the temple and I have never had an experience inside the temple like the one i had today. I cant put it into words... but the temple is the House of the Lord and it is Holliness to Him! I love the temple and it is the most spiritual, clean, best place on this earth! I testify of that!

I love you all and until next time

Elder Cowden=

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4/22/19 -- Elder Dalton Hall, Ecuador Mission

More new missionaries !

This week 3 new missionaries got here and we just got a call telling us that now 3 more are going to be here tomorrow! Everyone is training here including some Zone Leaders!! Elder Zollinger and I have found some really good new people this week that have some serious potential to being baptized! We are really excited!! We are about to be settling down soon to be able to grind here in the sector!

I love working here as a missionary!! I know that the church is true!!

Elder Hall

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4/22/19 -- Sister Nicole Ritman, Spain, Madrid Mission

🤱 ¡MADRE MÍA! 🤱

Subject Line: Madre Mía is an expression everyone says in Spain (and yes my Italian companion really did say Mamma Mia-I'd always thought it was a false stereotype, but it's real). The literal translation would be: Mother of Mine! And that expression was my reaction when the Ayudantes al Presidente called and had me read a paragraph from The Family: A Proclamation to the World to tell me I should raise my child in righteousness because I'm about to get my hijita!!!!! (The APs have way too much fun with these calls). I'm going to train a brand new missionary straight from the MTC. I've already left piso and won't be back until super late on Wednesday because new missionaries get here a day after transfers. And since H Brumble is leaving early Tuesday morning to go to Las Palmas (capital of the Canary Islands), we have to stay the night in San Sebastián and I have to spend yet another one. So much time away from home but worth it to get mija! (mi+hija=mija).

Seres queridos,

Recently it has been really really hard to not only set citas, but not have them fall through. It's been the struggle lemme tell ya.

But then the drought was broken! In one day, we had three citas all with members! It was milagroso 🙏 And ever since then not only have we had a lot of citas since then but actually really good ones! One in particular he took us to a Columbian panadería and he gave us these two delicious types of rolls and Colombian soda and he was just in his element and opened up a lot with us and it was just so awesome!

H Brumble's birthday is the day she was leaving so we had the Elders from Segovia come and Karent and we went to Domino's for the sin límites (they don't have that in the US. It's all you can eat) and I got a cake and we partied. It was super chill.

Os quiero,

Hermana Ritman

Contact Information

email: [email protected]

Sister Nicole Ritman

Madrid Spain Mission

Avenida de Tenerife, 11

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid, Espana

Hermana Brumble's Birthday

Karent said my personality reminded me of this flower 🌸

Graffiti

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snsmissionaries · 5 years

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4/14/19 -- Sister Nicole Ritman, Spain, Madrid Mission

Conferencia Genial 👍😀

Subject Line: On Saturday my comp accidentally said "Conferencia Genial" instead of "Conferencia General" and I thought it was cute and that it fit jaja. (Genial means great! As in really good)

¡Hola a Todos!

This week we got up early and traveled for two hours to Azuqueca to do our intercambios. I was with Hermana Mortensen, who was in my district and also dorm at the CCM! It was so fun to see her again. The capilla there is gorgeous--it had stone and marble on the INSIDE and is in front of this gorgeous park with fall leaves and grassy fields. The funniest part of that day was when we were in a lesson with a recent convert and she pulled out her Book of Mormon. The Elders were in Azuqueca before the Hermanas and they taught her before her baptism. She said, "Look! The Elders showed me how to highlight my Libro de Mormón." She opened it up and every single word-even the chapter headings was highlighted in bright pink or green. It looks like she colored the page in. 😂 I guess they told her to highlight her favorite parts but somehow she thought you had to highlight every word you read to keep track of where you were. We tried to suggest a bookmark, but it didn't quite register either. Oh well, it was actuallly pretty cute to see her diligence in reading and to do her very best effort. We also got up early the next day and jogged to the capilla to join the youth in seminary and jogged back. It was fun to see all the youth and I realized how young they were. I feel like I was just in seminary.

We went straight from Azuqueca to Segovia for district council. Then we had to take the bus from there to Madrid and back up to Villalba because there isn't a way to go straight to our town. Annoying. We traveled for like 6 hours in 2 days and weren't in our area at all but it was still good.

A funny thing Spaniards do is talk through the window even if you live on the 5th floor and we've always joked that if we got to do that, it would be the ULTIMATE CONTACT. And guess what we did! And they even let us in. Turns out they thought we were from their church but still we got to give them the first lesson jaja. In a weird twist of events, someone H Brumble taught before I got there was also in the house. He changed his outfit 3 times and every time he came back with more gel in his hair. 😂 He was devastated when H Brumble said she's probably going to leave soon.

As for conference, we watched one session in Spanish, the second we didn't actually get to watch we just saw the talks in English and then the next one H Brumble randomly and suddenly got so sick she couldn't even get off the floor so I let us stay home. (later we were told it was a sudden change in baromatic pressure). The last one played while we were sleeping so I really haven't seen much of Conference. We'll try to catch up though.

For Pday we cleaned like crazy and make crepes! I used to work in a crepe shop so I got to recreate the old recipes like lemon butter and Pesto Gouda. Also pudding strawberry. 😋

Hope you all have a great week!

Os quiero,

Hermana Ritman

Contact Information

email: [email protected]

Sister Nicole Ritman

Madrid Spain Mission

Avenida de Tenerife, 11

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid, Espana

Villalba Week 5: https://photos.app.goo.gl/14uukJx2V6nQ6Ksy9

(Let me know if you want to see them and they don't work for you.)

Pictures from Last Week

Nicole hit her 9 month mark on March 26!

Cute little library

Park Adventures

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snsmissionaries · 5 years

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4/8/19 -- Elder Braden Cowden, Argentina, Cordoba Mission

Elder Cowden - Week 41

When you believe a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.

Carlos Paz is the best place on earth. It is so beautiful and so amazing its unbelievable! And its big, like huge! It is the biggest area in the mission and its a lot of walking uphill. It reminds me of a small town in Utah mixed with Prescott. The church building here is so beautiful and the members are so nice and brilliant! I am so excited for my time i have been blessed with here. Anyways now for some of the things that have happened this week:

We have been blessed with so many miracles, its unbelievable! The first day we had so many wonderful lessons with amazing people we found and everyday since has just been a contuation of that. We had to break up a fight of some little boys at the park yesterday and ended up teaching them about the Love of God and the commandment of loving and serving your neighbors (Mosiah 2:17) We had amazing opportunities to meet with members and have family home evenings with them and talk about the missionary work/plan in the ward.

We had a baptism on Sunday for the son of a recent convert and it was so great to see his little face light up during the service and he was so happy to be baptized and make a promise with the Lord to always try to be like him. It was fun to talk about ol Jeremy Crotts with the members as he served in this area a while back. Last night, we went to a family home evening and we couldnt get across the bridge that is in the middle of carlos paz because it had rained so much the water was flowing over the bridge! So we walked a mile or two to the next bridge over and luckily it was taller and we were able to pass in order to arrive to the delicious empanadas that were waiting.

I know there is a lot more i am forgetting but thats about all the main points this week. I love you all and i have a testimony of the Gospel and its truthfulness. And just like the subject line which is a quote by Walt Disney, we have to be fully commited, without doubt, to what we believe in. So we all need to be undoubtedly loyal to the Lord! He is our Savior and our brother and all He asks of us is to do everything we can to be like Him and keep His commandments. We are humans and we will make mistakes, but there is nothing that we could do which would ever inable us to achieve are potential, which is to one day become Gods and Goddesses ourselves! And because of the Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we can be forgiven of those sins and feel that everlasting peace and happiness it brings! The Lord stated in the scriptures that once we truly turn away from our sins and carnal desires and actions, He remembers our sins and faults no more. So i challenge each of you this week to ponder about what things you would like to achieve in life, then make goals, and then take the steps necessary to achieve them. Seek to recieve that joy that comes from the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And watch General Conference this weekend with a question you have about how you can better an aspect of your life. I promise you as a called servant of Him that He WILL answer your questions! Because we matter to Him, more than we know.

Elder Cowden=

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4/1/19 -- Elder Dalton Hall, Ecuador Mission

Baptisms !

This week Jorge, Genesis and Moises were baptized!! It was super cool ! I got to baptize and confirm Genesis and Moises. I felt the spirit pretty strong. It has been a joy to help this family! They are preparing themselves to be able to enter the temple to be sealed as well.

We have been doing interviews with President Moreno and the missionaries from all the zones this week. We have been talking with them and helping them with their needs.

We are looking for new people ! We have a bunch of good people that can be baptized, we are just trying to find more to baptize !

Elder Hall

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4/9/19 -- Sister Nicole Ritman, Spain, Madrid Mission

The Longest "Short" Week of my Mission 😞

Subject Line: Since we had last Pday on Wednesday, I figured it would feel nice to have a short week until the next Pday only a few days later on Monday. Wrong. Somehow H Brumble and I had a week that felt even LONGER than normal even though it was technically shorter than normal.

¡Hola a Todos!

It's only been a few days since I wrote you all last and H Brumble and I have worked super hard and have nothing to show for it. You're probably reading this imagine I'm saying that in a bitter voice, but I'm not even angry. I'm not even annoyed. One thing the mission teaches you is that you can be disappointed without getting frustrated. It gives you a broader perspective that we may not see the obvious results of our labor, but there are still blessings that come that we might not see the relation to. For example, we all know that if missionaries talk to more people, they find more people. But sometimes none of those people talk back. But that doesn't mean we weren't blessed for that effort. Maybe we were sent blessings like seeing new gorgeous parts of our area, getting sick before you had to travel but then feeling well enough to go at the last minute, getting to comfort a crying woman on the phone even though you couldn't go and see her, or actually having an eating cita not cancel like all the others and being able to get to know the family. (None of the above examples are hypothetical and all have happened recently). We may not be able to see those blessings as a direct result of the work we put in before, and the truth is there are probably way more variables that go into it, but the truth is the Lord can bless us in different ways than are obvious to find the cause and effect. This probably made no sense, but these are just some of the things I've been learning lately.

Also I am learning that first you have to tell the Lord you are WILL-ing to do anything for Him before He reveals you what his actual WILL is. Why would he tell you His will if He knows you'll only do what He wants if it's what you wanted to do in the first place? In a word: Sacrifice

As for the actual week, I can't think of any events of grand importance, but we did happen upon a gorgeous park and tried to snap a few photos to add quotes to something and maybe put on our shared area Facebook account. I'll attach some of the photos because I haven't really sent many photos of the pretty part of Villalba yet. Villalba is part of Spain's "Sierra" (yes it is a word but it is also the name of the area) and we have gorgeous mountains and pine trees but the mountains are never as gorgeous in. my pictures than in person. You will just have to Google it or take my word for it 😉

Today we hit Madrid hard and zipped around and saw everything in the super classical art museum Prado and almost everything in the wacky modern art museum Reina Sofía. It was cool seeing my inspirations like Remembrant, Goya, Salvador Dahli, Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Juan Miró, Diego Rivera etc. My pick of the Prado this time (I went before in the CCM) would have to be a really realistic marble satue of Mars and Venus in the Prado that was just very sweet even thought they're usually portrayed pretty dramatically. The artist really got the gaze even thought they didn't even have pupils, which was interesting. It was in one of the main parts with a bunch of other famous works, but it totally stole the show. (Unfortunately it was just a re-creation and the original is in Buckingham Palace). My pick of the Reina Sofía would have to be the Alexander Calder's (one of my personal favorite artists ever since I read "The Calder Game" and saw his work in the Phoenix Museum) ever-turning mobile of simple yet uniquely Calder shapes and colors. It was near Picasso's "Guernica", which was also a marvel to behold. Somehow Picasso knows how to show light with using only a few grey and white shades. The Reina Sofía also had a lot of videos and picture series of performance art from the 40s-60s which was pretty cool because it was like giving their art a second life. I also really connected with this one random artist I don't remember the name of because all his abstract paintings look like the shapes I doodle on the edge of my paper when I'm either bored or stressed sometimes. I just felt like the same patterns were in our souls. Art is literally a spiritual experience for me because I get it tune with the creative vibe and feel like I can just connect to the Human Experience so much better. I just feel like I have lived more than just my own life when I go to an art collection and see so many different places and people and experiences from different periods of time.

Anyways sorry I didn't have actual experiences to write this week-I just kinda gave the thoughts that churn around in my head to an audience.

Os quiero,

Hermana Ritman

Villalba Week 3: https://photos.app.goo.gl/SVjdkFrcjM2yV7bN7

Contact Information

email: [email protected]

Sister Nicole Ritman

Madrid Spain Mission

Avenida de Tenerife, 11

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid, Espana

#WeWorkin'Grindin' #💯% #Neva Stop #💪💥🛴 #Romans3:16 #Gettin'gains #GiveitAllto God🙏

Subject Line: A while before I left my mission I remember laughing at all those memes that made fun of how student athletes tweet. This week's subject line is inspired by those memes because we really did hit the grind.

¡Hola a Todos!

I will start out this weeks email with a random anecdote.

So we were coming back from the church one night to go home and we were on a busy (well busy for a small town like Villalba) Street and right outside of a super market when this very old Spanish man stops us. He stopped us and started talking about how he's been to America and how he knows about the church and everything. We're just listening politely and then he grabs by tag and reads "Hermana Britman". I tell him with an R but he keeps insisting he sees a B and keeps pulling it closer to read it. I'm just standing awkwardly as my comp watches. The he huddles by me where my comp can't really see and says "Ritman I have something for you". I watch him reach in his pocket and take out something long a pointy and glinty. It was a knife! A surge of panic shocked my body. Every Safety Zone video we'd watched flashed through my mind. I wondered if I'd broken some sort of rule to end up in this situation. Then he started going for my hair! He wouldn't kill me, but still-my precious hair! But then I realized it was one of those excessively large hair clips and he stuck it in my hair with his shaky hand. It was actually really cute because like five times he showed H Brumble "Mira! Que bonita!" The situation went from potentialky fatal to absolutely adorable.

So this Saturday our zone decided to do a finding marathon. We didn't set any citas and we decided to find in a bunch of different ways. We started out the day Facebook contacting like madwomen and then we went to have mediodía. Usually we eat lunch but we ended up doing our special zone fast later than planned so we were just going to take a break. But then we had a last-minute cita. It was one of those lessons where they talk too much and you have a headache at the end but it's OK because we were on a roll. We immediately went out knocking doors (in Spanglish toquing puertas). It's not the most effective but we did it for variety's sake. Then we did something I never have in my entire mission before: pan carta. Basically it's a big poster and you just stand in one spot and try to contact EVERYONE THAT WALKS BY. Any speck of fear I had about contacting was gone. I mean I didn't think I was afraid of it, but I was fearless on a different level. Usually you do pan carta with other missionaries but it was just H Brumble and I and we went into a finding frenzy. We were determined to hand out every Spanish Libro de Mormón we had (an entire package orders worth). And one in Arabic. I talked to do many people my speech started coming out as stutters. I am not exaggerating. We did this for hours. We gave out so many tarjetas with our info our fingers turned blue from the ink and we tallied the amounts of Libros we gave out and phone numbers we got of our wrists and at the end of the day we took a picture. After we handed out all our books, we packed up and did some traditional en camino Street contacting. Some days in the work are about quality, but some days are about quantity just to stretch yourself and Saturday was definitely one of those days. Since we worked through lunch and started early because we didn't want to exercise while fasting, it was officially the longest hardest workday of my mission. I highly doubt I'll ever do that again. Needless to say, our zone absolutely destroyed all our goals because of it which made the mission destroy our goals too.

At the end of the day we were too tired to cook and didn't have anything good in the fridge plus we were STARVING so we ordered Papa John's and then sushi and downed an entire family size Aquarius (kinda like Gatorade) ourselves.

Last night we stayed the night in Madrid because we had to get H Brumble's residency card this morning. We thought it'd take three hours but it took 30 minutes lol. We got permission to go to the center of Madrid to pass the time. Like a good greenie breaker, I filled in the holes of H Brumble's cultural experience that didn't quite happen in training. I look her to the classic Chocolatier San Gines for chocolate with churros and porras and then one of the main Plazas who's name I am forgetting rn but it's right next to Puerta del Sol. Then we went and tried fancy cheese, salchichón and dried fruit from this open air market and wandered our way back to Sol where we rode the metro to the end of the line.

There, the office Elders picked us and other Hermanas up the van and we all went to the mission home for zone Pday. I hadn't been back since my first day in the mission and it was kinda surreal being here halfway through. We played around the world ping pong, darts, volleyball, badminton, Frisbee etc. And then we ate Papa John's, salad and had two types of cake for Presidente and Hermana Kennett (senior couple) birthdays. Now we're all chilling in the home writing and calling our families.

It's been a good week and we had a few mini adventures I didn't write about but I will send photos of.

Os quiero,

Hermana Ritman

Villalba Week 4: https://photos.app.goo.gl/XF4wbWxEKDgxtcss9

Contact Information

email: [email protected]

Sister Nicole Ritman

Madrid Spain Mission

Avenida de Tenerife, 11

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid, Espana

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snsmissionaries · 5 years

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3/27/19 -- Sister Katie Buntin, Guatemala, Guatemala City Mission

its the final countdown

*songplays as hermana buntin walks through guatemala*

well guys you know its real when you get to go and say goodbye to your areas and well you know itll be a while till you get to go see them again..... its the saddest thing ever. but it was also sooo awesome to see some amazing people from NUEVA SANTA ROSA ❤😍 i sure do love that place and learned a lot! i didnt think that i would have been able to learn so much from a new country new language and new people but every single one of them blessed my life. people think that the mission is here for us to teach others but as we teach we learn from them and their testimonies and it is the best thing ever! i want to bear you my testimony that im the biggest convert from the mission and im a new person because of this work!!!!

also soooo sorry for the lack of pics buuutttt my sd card broke so these are all from my comp.... me and my comp at multi zone using my guatemalan outfit and us in our apartment parking lot cause we both had fevers and wanted to record the moment also me cleaning raw chicken in our sink for the elders and pretending to eat it

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ipWnENkKTtFIfrrKV4f5UMGbimnrnH8D

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snsmissionaries · 5 years

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4/9/19 -- Elder Braden Cowden, Argentina, Cordoba Mission

Elder Cowden - Week 39

“I have no strings on me!”

So this past week has been one of the most amazing weeks of my mission. So many things have happened and I know it is because of the tender mercies of the Lord. Let me just quickly go over the week:

This last Wednesday i decided I needed to refocus as a missionary, as a priesthood holder, as an unofficial latino, and in the companionship i am currently in. So I started the day off right, did the things i needed to, and then had an amazing District meeting! We ate lunch with the Arias family and then carried on with our day as normal.

That evening we promised that we would help paint the Arias families house, so we did as promised. But a certain point during it all we felt an impression to leave. So we apologized but we had to go because the Spirit told us to. And just as we left, a boy walked past that we knew. We talked to him and he told us that he and his mom wanted us to come by to talk with her. So we quickly ran to the pension, got changed with paint still all over my face and hands, and went to their house. Turns out, there are some problems going on in the family right now and just two days before we first talked with them, the mom had the change of heart to return to Christ. She knew about us through her son and the conversations we have had with him about the Gospel and the church. We took them to a bridal shower at the church on Friday so that the mother could get to know the other Sisters in the ward, and they have a huge desire to go to church! We had the date of baptizing them the last Sunday of this transfer, but they couldn't come to church this past Sunday due to a family party. So it turns out I might not be here once they get baptized but I'm okay with that.

Then Saturday we had a wonderful day finding more amazing families and visiting less active families. We had amazing spiritual experiences that i will never forget.

Then Sunday we recieved a delicious cinnamon-like cake with dulce de leche! Oh how it was delicious!! We continued visiting familes and i really had the opportunity to see how far my spanish has come along! But i still study a lot!

Monday (Yesterday) we didnt have lunch marked on the calender so I wrote Cowden in the spot. So i made us lunch from the Cowden Family. I made breakfast burritos with hamburger, eggs, rice, potatoes, onions, and barbacoa(BBQ Sauce) and it actually didnt turn out too bad :)

And today we have a membership to a local library so i am emailing from one of their computers. But the best part is the librarians here are asking about why were here and what we do so i have faith something good will come out of it :)

So next week is transfers and I won't know until Saturday if i am staying here or leaving. So i will most likely will have an email next week but if I don't, its because im traveling :)

Love you all!

Elder Cowden=

Elder Cowden - Week 40

“I feel your pain as well. I know this is not a competition…..at least I came out with both my eyes.”

Well i got transfered! I am no longer in Villa Maria! This last week has just been packing my things and trying to work hard to make a better start for Elder De La Cruz and his new companion.

I got the chance to say goodbye to a few of the families here but not everyone, which means that i am going to have to return someday to Villa Maria. I will miss it there, it was where i could call home for a bit. i am very grateful for all the families and people i had the blessing of knowing. My testimony and knowledge has defiinitely grown, as well as a deeper desire to serve the Lord. I am excited to be in my new area and be able to experience new opportunities and meet amazing children of God!

I am now here in Carlos Paz with my new companion Elder Vasquez! He is from El Salvador and he is a super nice, cool guy. Hes a little shy, which i can understand, and he really has the desire to work hard. This is going to be an amazing transfer, i just know it! We will have the chance to do some amazing things together and really help this area and its citizens come more unto Christ!

From what i have seen so far it is a huge, beautiful, fun-filled place! Its so big and it is surrounded by mountains its a beautiful scenery! But we are going to be traveling a lot due to the size of the area, which i really am looking forward to! The pensions is bigger, nicer, but it has its problems still just like any other, nobody is perfect :) I am really excited to see what the Lord has in store for me this transfer and what i will be able to push myself to accomplish. Although there are nerves, i know i am doing the most important work on this earth and i am comforted to know that the Lord is with me, and nerves and a bit of sadness never lasts when we rely on the Lord :)

Love you all!

P.S. I totally saw a place that was called Daddy Bebidas! Which in english translates to Daddy Drinks (I think my dads influence has been so big even Argentina is using his amazing cheezy phrases)=

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snsmissionaries · 5 years

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3/24/19 -- Sister Nicole Ritman, Spain, Madrid Mission

Hermana Rihanna and Sister Shakira Getta Anotha' One 👌

Subject Line: It's a long explanation that will be given throughout the email.

¡Hola a Todos!

So last, last Saturday we had the baptism that we weren't planning on, and this last Saturday we had the one we originally were planning on jaja. Her name is Karent (the t is silent) and she is amazing because she was actually a street contact! As much as we do it, anyone who has been a missionary in the past few years knows baptisms most often come from member references and part-member families, not random people off the street. But it does still happen and Karent is proof! Her prayers are the most genuine and beautiful Oraciones I've literally ever heard. The other great thing about Karent was she was praying and forgot my last name so she called me "Hermana Rihanna" (like the singer) and she thought it was so funny so she even mentioned it in her baptismal talk 😂

WE WORKED SO HARD to put her baptism together and it paid off! We had a solid amount of people and a cello/piano musical number trio (we randomly have super musical youth in the ward. Several cellists and violinists and a million pianists). It was super spiritual, she cried during the talks but during her own testimony she didn't and gave the sweetest account of how the Hermanas found her and taught her and how she just wants to follow God. So cute!!

The rest of the week was kind of a blur to be honest. Even though we were busy with the baptism, we managed to hit my personal mission record for new Amigos (new people you're teaching). I won't say the number because it is probably like what some missionaries get in a single day but oh well jaja

We had zone conference! It was a super spiritual one because we tackled the Atonement of Jesus Christ and Pres Bussey knocked our socks off a little just reminding us of what an incomprehensible yet accessible gift it really is. Also my Mom (like my actual Mom, not my trainer in the mission) and my Aunts happened to be at the temple (she didn't know we had zone conference at the church by the temple) and President let me see her for a bit during lunch. That pretty a unexpected but well-received surprise jaja. Now I can't say I haven't seen my fam for a year and a half but I'll forgive my mom for breaking my streak (jaja broma 😉).

The Sister Shakira part is a result of being in a really small district. It is just Elder Young, Elder Cordovez and us. And when she have a small district you just have more random craziness. For example, E Cordovez said that H Brumble said that she sounds like a girl, but she didn't like that so he agreed that if we hit our finding goal he'd say she had the voice of Shakira. We cleared the goal, so now to fit the theme I'm Hermana Rihanna and she's Sister Shakira and we gotta anotha' one because we had our second baptism in two week. Don't expect more for a while though because now that we absorbed the Elders area we have 1000000 people to teach but currently no one who is actually progressing haha 😅 We're working on it. It's going to be a filter process.

Also since I am close to Madrid now I got to go to the temple the morning and it's felt SO GOOD LEMME TELL YA. It has been a LONG WHILE since I've been. Man I missed that place. ❤️ (That's why our Pday got switched--the temple isn't open on Mondays).

After, we played sand volleyball and when we weren't on the court we were munching on our pastries we grabbed from Lidl for lunch . Literally the entire zone just went to Lidl and attacked the giant pastry wall (savory and sweet pastries). I'm talking doughnuts, focaccia, pizza, empanadas, classic Spanish puff pastries, palmeristas, etc. You stuff it all in your bag and check out. We were quite a sight.

Well tbh I can't really remember anything else that's happened since last Pday. I wrote a long group email because when I have so many individual ones I'm ignoring I just write a long group one so everyone gets to here something at least and I don't have to write things twice. Okay lame excuse I know, I'll go focus on my individual ones now.

Chao!

Hermana Ritman

P.S. So I haven't had many funny language mistake stories for some reason so far, but I have one know that I thought was pretty hilarious at the time. So my companion understands pretty well, but she is still new and Spanish over video call is super difficult to understand. So we were teaching this guy who is probably almost 30 and we are teaching him to pray. We tell him that he can pray about his feelings, thoughts, questions...anything. He asks, "So I can pray to ask God to make Hermana Ritman fall in love with me?" I was trying to think of something to say that was missionary appropriate and not a sassy retort, but before I could think of anything, my comp (not understanding) is like, "Ya of course! You can say anything at all!" I think I need some of you guys to start praying for me not to fall in love with this guy to counteract his prayers because I think he's going to try it out for a while now jaja

Also to explain the crepe and milkshake picture: We can only meet with men in public or with another woman and for this one cita, we couldn't find another woman and it was freeing outside so we agreed to me in a cafetería (like a cafe, not like a school cafeteria). We had to order to stay, so we just ordered a crepe (an homage to my job in college at a crepe shop) and a MILKSHAKE to share and hoped to finish it before he got there to not be rude eating in front of him but still reserve the spot. But when it came, it was GIANT. We were like "how are we gonna finish this milkshake". But then we realized it wasn't a milkshake--it was actually just milk flavored like cheesecake and that's why it was called a "milkCake" and not a "milkSHake" on the menu. If tasted good, but still what a ripoff- I call it a milkFAKE because they totally made us think it was a milkshake! And it was just flavored milk!! With whipped cream and everything! But the guy never ended up showing up to the cita and we just used the WiFi to contact on Facebook as we ate and waited, so the jokes on him.

Contact Information

email: [email protected]

Sister Nicole Ritman

Madrid Spain Mission

Avenida de Tenerife, 11

28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes

Madrid, Espana

To see all the photos and videos from this week, click on the link below.

Villalba Week 2: https://photos.app.goo.gl/C31jAA1ywp3SnjS19

To catch up on all the photos from last week, click here

Villalba Week 1: https://photos.app.goo.gl/9UJDsroQPxanHCKQA

Our Crazy District: https://photos.app.goo.gl/kATRQip2yudjEGDD9

"The MilkFake"

Karent

Pizza waiting for the font to fill

Zone Conference

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snsmissionaries · 5 years

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3/18/19 -- Elder Dalton Hall, Ecuador Mission

17 months

Dang... time flies !

This week went really well! It has rained so hard every single day this week! It is even hotter while its raining lol. we found some cool new people to teach but we have to see if they have desires to get married so that they can be baptized. We saw some miracles this week...

We finally taught Angelica and Valeria Perez this week, twice! They are very humbled right now and want to be baptized. They are having some really hard things go on in their family, but we have helped Angelica and her daughter to feel the spirit and hear the voice of the Lord. We put a baptismal date for the 30th of this month! We will see if we can help them with that goal. Its awesome because when i went to visit them with my other companion she didnt want anything with baptism. She has been listening to the missionaries for a long time but now she is ready! We had some lessons with the Perez Family this week and they are so humble and so desirous to go to church and get prepared to enter the temple to have an eternal family. Milagros, their little 8 month baby, has been a little delicate to her health and she cant go outside when its raining and we woke up Sunday morning and it was raining! We prayed with a lot of faith in the Lord and the skies cleared up and the sun came out... the whole family came to church! Their 3 kids will be baptized the 30th of this month. Also, we went and talked with Stella last night and we finally discovered 2 of her challenges with the Word of Wisdom. It was so relieving to find out her "iceberg". We gave her a priesthood blessing and are going to help her be baptized with her daughter in these upcoming weeks. That is why she hasnt been baptized, but she didnt want to tell us, but we prepared some scriptures and helped her to feel the spirit.

Sunday, Elder Zollinger and I gave talks in sacrament meeting! I prepared my talk on the restored priesthood, baptism and missionary work. I felt the spirit guide me to know what to write down and prepare. Sunday during my talk I felt the spirit very strong a few different times. What a blessing to be able to talk with such power and authority as a representative of Jesus Christ! I shared Mosiah 14:3-5 and invited everyone to share the gospel. It was a blessing. Some members came up and commented a couples things to me after in regards to me talk. It was great.

I am so grateful to be a missionary. It is so cool to share the gospel every day and look for people ready to receive the gospel. I find so much joy reading in the Book of Mormon and the New Testament. I love the savior and I know that he helps us in our day to day life if we look for him. I have felt the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ give me strength and energy to keep moving forward. I am who I am thanks to the savior and thanks to dedicating time to learn and serve him. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the kingdom of God here on the earth. Dont be confused, just read in the Book of Mormon and I promise that you will come closer to the savior and know that this is His restored church, the only one led by the savior himself. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Elder Hall

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